The Gargoyles Strike Back
by Michael2
Summary: The gargoyles strike back at Al Qaeda
1. Chapter 1

**October 7, 2001**

The _Präzisions-Scharfschützen-Gewehr 1 _(PSG-1), manufactured by the German company Heckler and Koch, is a seventeen-pound, magazine-fed, semi-automatic sniper rifle. It was developed in response to the Munich Massacre during the 1972 Summer Olympics. It is said to be one of the most accurate semiautomatic weapons in the world.

At this very evening, one of these rifles is in the hands of an olive-skinned, web-winged gargoyle lying prone on a high ridge. The gargoyle wears a tactical vest, a Kevlar helmet, and a headset which is wired to a radio.

He peers through a Hensoldt 6×42 scope. He can see the camp below, with Quonset huts and Jeeps and armed men standing guard or patrolling the grounds.

The gargoyle's eyes glow when he sees a tall man with a long beard on his chin and a turban on his head.

_Osama bin Laden. _


	2. Chapter 2

**October 1, 2001**

Stu Jameson stands on the bridge of the tour boat as it floats down the Lower New York Bay. An assistant, Herbert Peters, reads the various gauges. The sky above is decorated with cumulus clouds. The statue _Liberty Enlightening the World _stands tall and is clearly visible. Behind the statue the crew of the tourist ship can see the skyline of lower Manhattan.

"I've been working this boat for ten years," says Jameson. "I just can't believe they're gone."

Peters nods silently. He looks in the direction where the World Trade Center used to be.

Ooooooooooo

Elisa Maza steps out of the yellow Ford Crown Victoria taxicab, paying her fare. She notices hundreds of people standing on a sidewalk, in front of a wooden wall. Ribbons and photographs are pinned to the wall. Many of the people lay flowers on the base of the wall.

She glances upward, and sees the twisted metal ruin than was once the World Trade Center. The events of the previous month surface in her mind.

She remembers the darkness, the inability to move, with only a light coming from above.

She walks to a particular section of wall, even as a woman lays a bouquet of red roses at the base of the wall, tears flowing down her face. The NYPD detective knows that the woman is a widow of one of the officers from the 23rd Precinct killed in the collapse of the towers.

_It could have been _me. _It almost _was_ me. _

Elisa looks at the messages written on this particular section of wall "reserved" for the 23rd Precinct. She knew so many of them by name.

She glances to her left, and recognizes four people standing a few yards away.

"I can't believe she's gone," says Fox Xanatos as she looks at the makeshift memorial. "I used to have her over for slumber parties when I was twelve."

Her husband, David Xanatos, places a hand on her shoulder. The terrorist attacks last month still affect them greatly, especially since Fox learned that one of her close friends from childhood had been on American Airlines Flight 11 when it crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11.

Fox looks to the right. "Isn't that Detective Maza?" she asks.

"Probably paying her respects to those from her precinct," replies David.

"Why did this have to happen, Mommy?" asks Alexander, their five-year-old son.

"People make choices," says Owen Burnett, assistant to the Xanatoses. He has a much longer perspective than anyone else here.

Ooooooooooo

The sun sets in New York City, the sky getting redder and redder. Among the many cars packing the city's streets, one of them, a green Ford Crown Victoria, pulls into a parking garage located below the Eyrie Building, a skyscraper located in Central Park South. The Eyrie Building is best known for the Scottish castle that was restored on its very top.

The Crown Victoria stops in one of the many parking spaces in the concrete parking structure. The doors of the sedan open and dress shoes hit the concrete pavement.

Over a hundred stories above, stone figures adorn the castle's parapets. As the last of the sun's rays disappear, the stone figures crack, the cracks growing like fractals.

Suddenly, they move and yell out a loud roar as they awaken.

The gargoyle at the top of the tower jumps down to a balcony fifty feet below, wiping off the remains of his stone skin to reveal a lavender hue.

"Good evening," he says to the other awakened gargoyles. They all look towards the south. The change in the Manhattan skyline last month is still unsettling.

The gargoyles walk down to the great hall of Castle Wyvern. The hall is a huge room, with a marble floor and a fireplace that is over a thousand years old.

"Seven years ago, we awakened," says the lavender-skinned gargoyle that had been named Goliath by a Scottish prince back in the tenth century A.D. He looks at the other gargoyles in his clan – a brick-red gargoyle with a cone-shaped snout and white hair, a balloon- shaped blue-green gargoyle, a lavender-skinned gargoyle who is clearly female, a small olive-skinned gargoyle with web wings, a huge bearded gargoyle with white hair, and another gargoyle of a different species, a four-legged beast. There are also two others who were once gargoyles; after a chain of events, one of them became a combination of undead flesh and cybernetic body parts, and the other became a golden-colored robot. "We entered a new world, leaving the ashes of the old. Let us remember those who had fallen."

Goliath's thoughts shift briefly to the past, when he found the stone remains of his rookery brothers and sisters. That evening had been the worst night of his life, as so many people that he had cared for perished.

He and his clan had had many experiences since their reawakening in 1994. Only one event is as tragic as the massacre of their clan one thousand seven years ago.

"So what do we do now?" asks the red-brick gargoyle who had chosen the name Brooklyn.

"Excuse me," says a voice.

The gargoyles turn and see two men. The voice had come from a blond haired man wearing a black business suit on his body and glasses on his face; they recognize him as Owen Burnett. The other man wears a green outfit that is a Class A United States Army uniform. Two silver stars are pinned to his shoulders. While Owen appears ageless, the man in the uniform appears to be in his early fifties.

"So you are the one called Goliath?" asks the man in the Army uniform.

"Yes," replies Goliath.

"Major General Charles Crump," says the man, extending his hand. "I come here on behalf of CENTCOM."

"Welcome to our home," says Goliath. "Allow me to introduce my clan."

After Goliath introduces his clan, the general asks, "So, you wish to ally with us in our fight against Al Qaeda."

"Yes," says Goliath. "We all want to destroy Osama bin Laden."

"And we can help you; we have the best equipment money can buy. Why don't you all tell me about yourselves?" General Crump takes a seat at the main table, listening to their story for an hour or so.

"You've all have interesting stories," says Crump. "I'll have to discuss this with the CENTCOM, of course. I will vouch for all of you."

"We'd be honored to work with you," says Brooklyn.

"We'll send you the travel arrangements as soon as CENTCOM makes its decision," says General Crump. "Word is that the invasion of Afghanistan will begin within a week. We've got ships in the Indian Ocean already."

General Crump then leaves the dining hall.

"So this is it," says the female, whose name is Angela. "We're really going over there."

"We have discussed this before," says Goliath. "We have all agreed to take the battle to the terrorists."

There was, of course, much debate as to whether the clan should leave their protectorate to hunt down those who were behind the massacre. One of the objections was that it might result in a cycle of violence.

"They hold their own lives without worth," Goliath had said. "They will attack again and again, and their next target may very well be here. We must destroy as many of them as we can, make them know what true terror is."

Ooooooooooo

Paying the fare, Elisa steps out of the yellow taxicab and into the autumn evening air. Seeing a winged figure gliding above, she enters the apartment building in Manhattan's Greenwich Village.

Walking up the stairs, she opens the wooden door to the loft in which she had lived for ten years. Standing on the carpet in her living room, she looks up at the upper window.

"Goliath," she calls out.

The lavender gargoyle steps into the loft. He clasps his wings together, making them resemble a cloak. "How are you doing, Elisa?" he asks as he gives her a hug.

"Fine," replies the raven-haired human as she walks towards the three-year-old Kenmore refrigerator in the kitchen. She opens the refrigerator door and pulls out a glass bottle filled with a brown liquid. "My medical leave ends this month."

"Are you sure you are okay?" asks Goliath. "I mean…"

"Of course I'm okay," replies Elisa as she uses the Kenmore's ice dispenser to put ice cubes into a small glass. "Why wouldn't I be okay? I mean, look at what we've been through the past seven years since you awakened."

"We will be hunting the terrorists who attacked Manhattan," says Goliath. "We won't be here for a while."

"I see," says Elisa, pouring the brown liquid into the glass. "I'm not surprised."

"The terrorists must be denied sanctuary. It is no different than you going into someone's home to arrest a suspect."

"But you won't be arresting them, will you?"

Goliath sits down on a couch and pauses. "No. We are dealing with a new type of enemy here. The Hunters and the Quarrymen at least valued their own lives. Al Qaeda holds life to be of no worth."

A former Quarryman became a friend to the clan, after a series of events starting with Angela saving him from a fall. John Castaway had surrendered to the police, and is still in prison for his role in destroying the clock tower above the 23rd Precinct.

There is almost no possibility of any Al Qaeda terrorist befriending the clan, and Osama bin Laden would never surrender.

Oooooooooooo

**October 3, 2001**

The stone castle in the Swiss Alps overlooks a valley containing farms and villages. Snow decorates the highest peaks, even in early October. This particular castle had once been a hideout for a renegade fay.

Currently, twenty people meet around a round wooden table. The room has stone walls, the only light coming in through narrow glassless windows. Runes prevent both electronic and magical eavesdropping.

"Let us begin," says a man.

"The gargoyle clan in Manhattan will join the fight against Al Qaeda," says Mr. Duval.

"It is expected," says a woman. "It was their protectorate that was attacked last month."

"I must wonder if this is a wise course of action," says a man wearing a blue suit. "Ideas can not be defeated by force of arms. Nazi sympathizers still exist, after all. Attacking Al Qaeda may strengthen their resolve."

"The idea is to make sure people with those kind of ideas are not in a position to commit aggression," says another man. "All the resolve in the world won't help you knock down a skyscraper if you don't have the resources to do it. And that is what we must do. Deny Al Qaeda resources."

"We are currently tracking Bin Laden's finances," says a woman with tightly-curled black hair. "Perhaps someone can do a little embezzling."

"Very good," says Mr. Duval.

Ooooooooo

**October 5, 2001**

David Xanatos looks at the monitor screen of the computer on his desk.

"So the force field would not be enough to repel such an attack," he says.

"Yes, sir," replies Owen. "We would need advance warning." Owen hands his boss a CD. "We can set up a radar dish at the castle, and we would have to rent rooftop space in several key locations around Manhattan."

"Do you think they would try the same method of attack? Hijacking an airliner to crash it into a building?"

"Not _exactly_ the same method, sir. But there are other methods of acquiring aircraft."

David swivels the chair to look outside the window, towards the south. He still remembers the spot where the World Trade Center once stood.

ooooooooo

Two black and red helicopters land in McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey under a partly cloudy night sky. The door on one of the helicopters slides open, and Goliath and his clan step out.

"Welcome to McGuire Air Force Base," says a man in a BDU. "Your plane is on the taxiway."

"The other helicopter has some of the equipment we're bringing," says Goliath.

"We'll take care of it," says the man, a chief master sergeant.

The gargoyles hop into the back of a truck, which takes them to a Lockheed C-130H Hercules sitting on a taxiway. The interior of the jet is a huge metal alloy cavern.

"Hope you like the deco," says an Air Force airman, looking at the insulation that covers the bulkheads of the aircraft.

The Air Force personnel load labeled boxes into the Hercules. The door is shut, and the plane's four Allison T56-A-11 turboprops warming up. The pilot and copilot check their instrumentation.

"Skycap Three-Niner to McGuire Tower, we are ready for takeoff," says the pilot, an Air Force captain.

"Copy that, Skycap Three-Niner," says an air traffic controller inside the tower. "You are cleared for immediate takeoff."

"Here we go," says Broadway, the chubby blue-green gargoyle.

The C-130 Hercules takes off into the night sky and to the gargoyles' campaign against Al Qaeda.


	3. Chapter 3

**October 6, 2001**

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules taxis to a stop. The cargo doors are opened as a Humvee pulls up towards the cargo jet. Major General Charles Crump, clad in an Army BDU, walks up to the door.

"Ah, Coldstone, is it?" asks the general.

"Yes," replies the winged cyborg.

General Crump looks inside the cargo hold, seeing the stone forms of the gargoyles. "Pretty convenient, not turning to stone by day."

"It has its advantages," replies Coldfire. "At least we can keep watch over our clan. Still, even we robots must rest."

Coldstone and Coldfire look around the place. There are over a thousand uniformed humans here, either standing guard or performing duties. Quonset huts and tents provide the only shelter.

The gargoyles are loaded into a truck and taken to a Quonset hut reserved for the clan. Soldiers set their stone forms onto chairs.

"See you at sunset," Crump says to Goliath.

Oooooooo

At sunset, Goliath awakes, bursting from his stone skin.

"Good evening," says General Crump.

The clan leader looks around; he can see he is no longer on the plane. He and his fellow gargoyles are inside a large artificial structure. Crates sit at a corner.

"What's for breakfast?" asks Broadway.

"We'll meet at 2000 hours," says Crump.

"Brooklyn, you and the others unpack," says Goliath.

Oooooooooo

Goliath enters the huge Quonset hut. Inside the hut is a huge central table, with smaller tables on the sides. About two dozen men stand at the central table, most of them from all four branches of the DoD services, and a few from the Afghan Northern Alliance; they all stare at the gargoyle.

"Ahem," says General Tommy Franks, the commander of the U.S. Central Command. "Shall we begin?"

oooooooo

A few hours later, Goliath steps out of the Quonset hut where General Franks had held the strategy meeting for the coming invasion. He notices the uniformed humans staring at him.

"You'd think they never saw a gargoyle before," says General Crump.

"Most humans never come across a gargoyle," replies Goliath. "They only seen pictures of us on TV and the Internet."

He enters the Quonset hut reserved for his clan. Most of the stuff that they brought along is unpacked.

"What's going on?" asks Angela.

"We must prepare," replies the clan leader. "The invasion will be soon."

Oooooo

**October 7, 2001**

"It's so quiet out here," says Broadway, looking up at the starscape above.

There is very little noise; almost everyone is asleep in their bunk, except for the gargoyles and a few soldiers assigned to the graveyard shift.

By contrast, evenings in Manhattan bustle with activity, with traffic and nightlife.

"Such a change," says Angela.

"It's almost unsettling." Broadway once again listens to the eerie quiet.

"Remember when you went to star in that gangsta rap video about two years ago?"

"How could I forget?" asks the gargoyle, recalling the time he went to Pack Media Studios where the gangsta rapper known as the Grandmaster E was filming a music video for MTV.

That seems so long ago. Now he is here, preparing to fight the terrorists.

"Might as well make the best of it."

In the meantime, Lexington and Brooklyn check the equipment that they had brought with them.

"Everything's accounted for," says Lexington, holding a sniper rifle.

Bronx, the four-legged gargoyle beast, runs up to Brooklyn.

"I guess you want to eat, little buddy," says Brooklyn, opening a can of Purina dog food.

"Ahem," a voice says.

Brooklyn, Lexington, and Hudson turn to see a bespectacled man with close-cropped blond hair.

"Specialist Smithers," says the soldier. "General Crump sent me here to brief you on U.S. military protocols."

"Of course," says Brooklyn. "I'm Brooklyn, second in command of this clan."

"Interesting name, Brooke-Lynn."

Ooooooooo

The gargoyles gather in the Quonset hut as dawn approaches. All of them feel quite anxious about tomorrow night.

These feelings become etched in their stone forms as the sun rises.

Ooooooooooo

The humans spend the day preparing for their attack on the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Military intelligence staff brief commanders on the latest intel gathered from UAV's and other sources.

Aircraft crewmen make sure to do last-minute maintenance on the power plants of combat aircraft such as the AC-130 Spectres, the F-14 Tomcats, F-15 Eagles, and the F/A-18 Hornets.

The infantrymen maintain their weapons such as the M-16 automatic rifle and the M-79 grenade launcher and the M-60 machine guns.

Sailors examine the cruise missile launch systems on their ships.

And there is constant communication between the CENTCOM forward operating base and the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

Ooooooooooo

The sun sets at the CENTCOM forward operating base, and the gargoyles awaken, their stone skin falling onto the floor of the Quonset hut.

"Let's go," says Goliath, leading his clan outside.

Minutes later, they meet with General Crump and military officers from different nations and different branches of service.

"This will be our spearhead attack," says the Army general. "Your part, Goliath, will be an assault here. We believe this is Al Qaeda's headquarters in Afghanistan. Bin Laden himself may be there now. We will offer you a flight there, where you will jump out. I know you are capable of jumping out of an airplane."

"You can count on us to fight against Al Qaeda," says the clan leader, glancing at the overhead picture of the place.

"I hope this is not some empty aspirin factory," mutters Brooklyn.

"Believe me; our sources are reputable," says Crump.

Oooooooooo

Broadway checks the straps of the Kevlar armor that he wears over his body.

"You okay?" he asks Angela.

"Fine," she replies, tightening the straps securing the body armor.

She and the other gargoyles step inside the cabin of a jet. They all sit down.

"_Madre de Cristo_," says the pilot of the jet. "I can't believe we're actually flying these beasts, these _diablos_."

"What are we gonna transport next?" asks the copilot. "Lions? Wolves?"

ooooooooo

"This is Ghost Leader," says the pilot of a Lockheed AC-130 Spectre. "Ready for takeoff."

"You are cleared," says a voice.

The squadron of AC-130's takes off from the landing strip.

Oooooooo

An elevator on the aircraft carrier _U.S.S. Seahawk_ lifts an Grumman F-14 Tomcat onto the flight deck. The U.S. Navy pilot checks his instrumentation. His heart beats and his palsm sweat due to the stress of the imminent mission.

He taxis the fighter to the takeoff runway. The catapult launches the plane into the night sky.

Ooooooooo

The gargoyles in the jet fasten their restraints. They look towards the cockpit.

"This is Mother Hen," says the pilot. "We are taking off."

He pushes the throttle forward, and the jet takes off from the CENTCOM forward operating base.


	4. Chapter 4

**October 7, 2001**

"Sir?"

"Yes?" asks Mr. Duval, sitting behind his mahogany desk.

"Our sources confirm that the invasion of Afghanistan has begun."

"Excellent," the Illuminatus replies.

He looks at the screen of the Apple Macintosh PowerBook G4.

Ooooooooo

The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit bombers, flying high above in the stratosphere, rapidly approach their target.

"We have target locked on," says the lead Air Force pilot. "Fire."

The bomber jets release their deadly payloads of JDAM-equipped Mk 82 bombs. The inertial guidance systems, along with the GPS systems, guide the bombs towards a small communications relay.

The bombs detonate, the shock waves collapsing the walls of the building, dirt spouting up like geysers. A bloodied survivor staggers out of the communications relay, looking up to see moving lights amid a fixed background of stars.

Ooooooooo

The jet's parachute ramp is open. Goliath can feel the wind blowing against him.

"Let's go," he says.

He and his clan jump out of the airplane, using their wings to slow their descent.

"Wow," says Lexington.

"I can see the outlines of the buildings," says Coldstone.

"Our landing zone is a few hundred feet away from the compound," says Brooklyn.

For the first few minutes, the ground seems to be standing still. There is nothing except the ground below as the backdrop and the rush of air.

And then the ground rushes up fast. The gargoyles, used to gliding through the air as humans are walking on the ground, use their wings to control their airspeed and rate of descent. They all land as they had learned over a thousand years ago.

Goliath looks around. The landscape is deserted and isolated.

He notes a set of tire tracks on the ground, using his experience in tracking honed over a thousand years ago.

He signals for the other gargoyles to follow him on foot across the rocky landscape.

"There it is," says Coldfire.

The gargoyles look at a cluster of buildings. Humans in loose-fitting clothing mill about; some of them are clearly seen to be armed.

Goliath looks through night-vision binoculars, allowing him to see the humans with great detail.

He then sees a long-bearded human wearing a turban.

"Bin Laden," he growls.

Lexington loads a Heckler and Koch PSG-1 sniper rifle with 7.62×51 NATO ammunition. He looks through the a Hensoldt 6×42 scope.

"I see him, Goliath," he says.

"Your shot will be our signal to attack," replies Goliath.

Lexington looks at Osama bin Laden through the scope of the sniper rifle. He takes a series of deep breaths to calm himself.

"I have a shot," he says.

"Take it," replies Goliath.

Lexington pulls the trigger. The hammer strikes the percussion cap of the cartridge, setting off the gunpowder and propelling the bullet on a high velocity course towards its target.

The bullet strikes flesh, tumbling through tissue before exiting at a greatly reduced velocity.

At that moment, Osama bin Laden looks at the body of the fallen jihadist.

Hundreds of yards away, Goliath can see that Bin Laden is still standing.

"We're going in!" he yells even as Lexington squeezes out a few more shots, trying to take down as many terrorists as he can.

The gargoyles all land at the terrorist base. They immediately take cover behind barrels and vehicles.

"Clear the field," says Goliath.

Coldstone and Coldfire stand apart and then fire their General Electric miniguns that are attached to their arms. Their fields of fire overlap, creating a necroscape. An Al Qaeda terrorist fires rifle rounds at them; the metallic construction of the gargoyle cyborgs repel the bullets as if they are raindrops.

"Bin Laden!" yells Brooklyn. "He went in there."

The gargoyles rush up to the main building of the Al Qaeda base, sticking close to the wall to avoid the line of fire from any gunners above.

The terrorists inside would expect attackers to go in through the ground entrances, or try to land from above via parachute.

The gargoyles climb up the building, using their bony (or steel alloy) talons to scale the wall.

"There's probably someone on the rooftop," says Goliath.

Angela grabs an M67 fragmentation grenade and hurls it to the roof. A few seconds later, she hears the explosion as the grenade scatters steel fragments which can rip through flesh.

She and the others climb to the roof; two dead people lie on their backs.

"That must be the door to the stairway," says Broadway, looking at a small door on the rooftop.

"We'll make our own entrance," says Coldstone. He punches his hand through the concrete roof. He then jumps down into the room below, kicking one of the sand Nazi terrorists aside and then snapping the neck of another. The other gargoyles soon jump down.

They continue to fight through the building, through gunfire and grenade explosions.

"Let's push through," says Brooklyn, even as he takes shot at a jihadist.

Coldstone smashes another hole in a plaster wall. Goliath looks at the room at the other side. He sees a man with a turban and a long beard.

"Bin Laden!" he yells. "This is the end for you!"

He aims the barrel of the M-16 and opens fire.

Goliath and Brooklyn approach the body.

Brooklyn gets a look of surprise on his face; he just pulled off the beard. He shows Goliath the beard, especially the rubber bands attached to it.

"A decoy," growls Goliath. "Bin Laden must have slipped away.

"There might be something useful in this building," says Brooklyn. "We'd better go."

A few minutes later, the activity in the building dies down…literally.

"I found this," says Lexington, holding a laptop. "They must have left this behind. Maybe I can decrypt this."

Goliath walks out the front door. In the courtyard in front of the building, he can see soldiers. Some of them instinctively aim their weapons at the gargoyle.

"I am an ally!" he yells.

One of the soldiers makes a hand gesture, and the others stand down.

A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter approaches and lands, the rotos making a thumping sound.

The door opens, and Hudson steps out.

"Laddie!" he yells.

"We've won a victory here, Hudson," says Goliath. "The fight is far from over."

Bronx jumps off the helicopter and runs to greet the other gargoyles.

"You did well," says General Crump, stepping off from the Blackhawk. "I don't regret having you as allies. What of Bin Laden?"

"He got away."

"That Hitler in a headscarf will be on the run for the rest of his life; the coward he is."

"Come," says Goliath. "Let us return to base."

ooooooooo

Somewhere else in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden greets his followers.

It would seem that he will have to stay mobile.

Oooooooooo

**October 8, 2001**

The sun is less than a minute from rising.

"We did well," says Goliath, facing his clan. "We have shown Al Qaeda that we can get them where they live. From now on, there will be no place where Osama bin Laden or his followers will have sanctuary."

And then they turn to stone.


End file.
